Laboratory Report Guidelines

Objective

State briefly the main purpose of the experiment. Indicate the scale of the problem being addressed and the kinds of materials that are plausibly targets. If there was a hypothesis being investigated, lay it out here.

Diagram

As in Field Notebook, only neater. The diagram should show geometrically how equipment was laid out, with a scale and, where appropriate, north arrows. Sometimes multiple diagrams are needed (e.g., a simple cartoon of a resistivity profile might accompany a loaction diagram showing where several profiles were acquired).

Location Map

As in Field Notebook, only neater. Must have latitude and longitude.

Identification of Apparatus

As in Field Notebook.

Data

As in Field Notebook, only neater (often convenient to put it into a spreadsheet)

Calculations /Analysis

Give any mathematical formulas that you intend to use, and provide one sample calculation for each formula by substituting numerical values with the proper units for a particular case. Do not otherwise show numerical details, but provide a concise summary of the results of the calculations to a proper number of significant figures. If using software, indicate how it is used.

Graphs

Whenever appropriate, present the data and/or results in graphical form.

Discussion

This section should contain a concise summary and evaluation of the experiment. Each of the following items need take only one or two sentences. (a) Identify the principal results of your measurements and calculations. One or two numerical values may be incorporated within a sentence, but any more extensive tabular or graphical results should simply be referred to where they appear in previous portions of the report. (b) Comment on the precision of your results, indicate approximate limits or error, and mention briefly the principal factors contributing to the error. (c) Compare your results to expectations. State the source, including page, from which an expected value is taken (e.g., Table x.x of seismic velocities from Burger, p. xx). Lack of agreement between your result and an accepted value does not necessarily represent an error on your part; your sample may have been different or your measurements may have been made under different conditions.

Sections of a report should have above sections in order. Figures or tables should be referenced from the main text and not merely scattered about through a jumble of later pages. Be sure that elements of a model or structure are uniquely described: saying something about "layer 1" may be vague if you've run 8 inversions with varying numbers of layers. Labelling structures or models can help.

GEOL4714/5714 home | C. H. Jones | CIRES | Dept. of Geological Sciences | Univ. of Colorado at Boulder

Last modified at Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:37 PM